SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN LARGE TOWNS. 101 



anatomy ; there are no instruments for studying the phenomena of 

 the heavens; and the apparatus for experimental philosophy, though 

 very good in some departments, is in others equally defective. Li- 

 brary there is none ; for we can hardly take any account of those 

 few old books which are at present on the shelves of the Museum. 

 It is evident, therefore, that the Birmingham Philosophical Institu- 

 tion must receive much more extended and liberal support before it 

 can effectually attain its objects. This is not a pleasing picture, but 

 it is a true one ; and it will be contemplated with pain by the mem. 

 hers of the British Association, who will form their estimate of the 

 intellectual character of the inhabitants of this town by the degree 

 of encouragement which is given to its scientific institutions. In 

 the Lecture to which I have referred at some length, Dr. De Lys 

 exhibited the nature and extent of one source of human misery, and 

 at the same time demonstrated the possibility of providing an effica- 

 cious remedy. The result was, that a remedy was provided for this 

 town and neighbourhood. 



In all that has been brought forward this evening, the alarming 

 nature and extent of the evils resulting from ignorance may be 

 clearly traced ; and the advantages arising from their removal, by 

 the diffusion of scientific knowledge, will, I should hope, have been 

 fully recognised. It has been shown that the Birmingham Philoso- 

 phical Institution was established for the furtherance of this object; 

 that up to the present time it has effected much, and in future it 

 might be expected to do still more, were it liberally supported. 

 Shall its means of utility, then, be enlarged? and shall it hencefor- 

 ward receive encouragement and support worthy of this great town? 

 When I compare the feeble efforts of him who now addresses you 

 with those which must have been exerted on the memorable occa- 

 sion to which I have alluded, I will own that I despair ; but when 

 I look to the cause for which I plead, I entertain a hope, or rather 

 a strong confidence, that I, also, on this occasion, shall not speak in 

 vain. My hope is to see arise a substantial and spacious building, 

 containing a theatre capable of accommodating an increased number 

 of members, and apartments that shall not merely serve for the ac- 

 commodation of our Curator, and for the reception of the apparatus 

 and specimens which are at present in the Museum, but of those also 

 which the liberality of the friends of science, or the increased funds 

 of the Institution, may provide. It has often been remarked that 

 • he societies for the encouragement of literature and science in this 

 town arc too much scattered j and it has been suggested that an 

 union of some of them, for the purpose of erecting a building which 



